Hell Yeah, This Nissan Z Has Motherfriggin’ T-Tops

This week marks the 38th annual ZCON, an international gathering of Nissan’s six-cylinder rear-wheel-drive sports cars. It’s the sort of grassroots thing that you might not expect an automaker to pay official attention to an allocate real resources towards, but Nissan is going a different route. It’s unveiled a customized one-off called the Z Kaze specifically for the event, and there’s one thing on this car that rules harder than everything else.

See, ‘Kaze’ is Japanese for wind, and you certainly aren’t feeling the breeze through your coif in a slicktop coupe. Even with the windows open, it’s more sideburn exposure than anything. At the same time, a full-on convertible would be a huge fabrication task, and previous FM-platform drop-top Zs have felt a bit like bathtubs. The solution Nissan posits is throwing things back to the late 20th century with hair metal’s official roof arrangement. Oh yes, I’m talking about T-tops.

The premise behind T-tops is simple, in that they sort of split a targa roof down the middle. A fixed center support adds some modicum of structural rigidity and provides a fixed point for both sides of the removable roof to mount to, and individual removable roof halves allow for easier storage and more flexibility – if you want some sky but your passenger doesn’t, for instance. Sadly, proper T-tops are endangered these days. They’re on the GMC Hummer EV and that’s about it.

Guess what? They look excellent on the Z, and this converted concept really seems to have a sense of visual quality to it. The weatherstripping’s nice, the jambs where the T-tops mount look nice, it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine the roof treatment as a complete and finished saleable product.

Of course, Nissan didn’t stop with the roof, instead deciding to give the Z Kaze the full tuner treatment. We’re talking enormous carbon fiber fender flares filled by Nismo LMGT2 wheels, an iconic ’90s alloy that commands a serious second-hand premium. There’s a carbon fiber lip kit too, along with white leather upholstery, headrest speakers, and a host of Greddy bolt-ons. Exhaust system, intercooler, filter, job done.

Finishing it all off is a captivating hue called Pacific Teal, a unique color that just seems to glow in the sun. It might not have quite as much green in it as you’d expect from a teal, but it’s a damn good color. Nissan, if you’re listening, make this a regular production option. We need more cheery paints out on the roads.

So, is this a sign that Nissan is preparing to launch a T-topped Z? Probably not, because getting this alteration to production would come with some significant hurdles. T-tops represent a major structural modification, one that would almost certainly require re-homologation. However, if there’s a business case to be made here, a T-top Z would give Nissan’s sports car the X-factor it needs to stand out.

Top graphic image: Nissan